Kirklees Duty and Advice

Flowchart

Before contacting the Duty and Advice Team and completing a contact form, please answer the following questions and follow the advice provided:

Can you evidence that the child is experiencing or likely to suffer significant harm?

Yes

No

Do you have the consent of the parents to make contact with Duty and Advice and have you informed them of your intention to do so?

Yes

No

Inform the parents and/or gain their consent for you to make this contact unless doing so would put the child at risk.

The Duty and Advice Social Worker will offer advice on how to gain consent from parents.

Gather all the relevant information requested in the contact form in respect of the concerns prior to phoning Duty and Advice.

Discussion with Social Worker in Duty and Advice.

The social worker will advise you if the information you provide will need to be shared in writing.

To not do so may cause delay in the child’s needs being considered.

You must send this form securely.

Have you discussed the child’s needs with your agency safeguarding lead or your line manager?

No

Yes

Discuss the child with your agency safeguarding lead or line manager if available and follow their advice when providing support to the family.

Have you carried out an Early Help Plan and/or Early Help Assessment with the child and their family?

No

Yes

Speak to the parents and the child about carrying out an Early Help Assessment and/or Early Help Plan.

Where you have carried out an Early Help Assessment and Plan which has been reviewed and amended as required – and the child’s needs are not being met or in fact have increased, gain consent from the family to have a discussion with Duty and Advice.

Discussion cannot take place without consent.

Duty and Advice Contacting Children’s Social Care

Kirklees Safeguarding Children Board (KSCB) is a statutory body which is independently chaired and consists of senior representatives of all the principle stakeholders working together to safeguard children and young people in the area.

Contacting Kirklees Children’s Services Duty and Advice Team A new process for contacting Kirklees Children’s Services has been implemented with the key focus on partners calling the Duty and Advice Team and having a conversation with a Social Worker about the concerns they have about a child and their family.

Practitioners should first seek advice and information from their own agency line manager and agency safeguarding lead if this support is available.

If this support is either not available, or does not resolve the issue, practitioners can seek advice and information through a conversation with Duty and Advice at the Front Door. Where the support is usually available but not available on the day, practitioners should not wait for their colleague to return to work and thus delay contacting the Front Door.

When a practitioner is concerned that a child is at risk of or is experiencing significant harm, they must follow their agencies policies and procedures and ensure Duty and Advice at the Front Door are contacted immediately.

If the issue can't wait until the next working day please contact the Children's Emergency Duty Team on 01484 414933 and provide them with as much information as possible. 

Prior to making a call to Duty and Advice, partners need to gain consent from families to contact Children’s Services, unless to do so would put a child at risk of further harm.



A Social Worker in Duty and Advice is able to talk to partners about how to gain consent, but is not allowed to share information or offer advice about a family without consent.



To help partners understand what the Duty and Advice Team need to know during this call, a flow chart is displayed on the back of this leaflet and on the Contact Form.



A simplified Contact Form to replace the Multi Agency Referral Form (MARF) has been produced and is available online on the KSCB website www.safeguardingchildren.com

Please be aware that Kirklees Duty and Advice will no longer be accepting MARF’s and contact forms should only be sent where this has been agreed with the Duty and Advice Social Worker to the secure inbox DutyandAdvice@kirklees.gcsx.gov.uk

To contact Duty and Advice please call 01484 456848